particracyfandomcom-20200215-history
Geoffrey Fox
Geoffrey Fox is a Dranish politician from the Grand National Party (GNP) He defected from the GNP in 3389 to join the Conservative National Party (CNP). He is currently serving as Minister for Defence and Member of Parliament, and formerly served as a Member of the Elbian Assembly. He was the Parliamentary Chairperson of the CNP from 3397 to 3401. Fox returned to the GNP after the two parties' re-union in March 3401. Early life and military career Geoffrey Fox was born on May 9, 3343 in a military base two kilometres west of Hamcroft, Magadonia to two military officers, Captain Harrison Fox and Second Lieutenant Claudia Fox (née Sáenz-Braga). He was an only child, but grew up under the care of his uncle Jacob Fox in Comares, Elbian, with his cousins Victor (b. 3340) and Adam (b. 3345), due to his parents' constant absence. He has stated that he was "unfortunately unable to establish a close relationship with my parents, which I genuinely regret". With the support of his family, Fox went to the Elbian Military Academy at the age of nineteen with the intention of receiving a direct commission as a military officer, as his parents had done. He achieved unsatisfactory marks in his first two years, but was coaxed into applying himself by his parents. Graduating in 3365 near the top of his class, he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant, while less able students are generally commissioned as Second Lieutenants. In the same year, his father retired as a Colonel. Fox became an intelligence analyst, a job at which he excelled, and was rapidly promoted, becoming a Captain in 3367, a Major in 3368 and a Lieutenant Colonel in 3370. He was, however, passed over for promotion to Colonel. During his military years, his intelligence experience would lead to the devlopment of a deep interest in politics, especially foreign affairs. In 3372, when a member of the Elbian Assembly died and a by-election was scheduled, Fox obtained a discharge from the Army to contest the seat. Thus, he left the military to start a political career. Early political career In July 3372, a by-election was held for a constituency seat in the Elbian Assembly. Geoffrey Fox had been nominated by the Grand National Party (GNP) to contest that seat prior to the election, just weeks after he joined the party (serving military personnel are not allowed to participate in politics apart from voting). Against all expectations, the total political newcomer was successful and won the seat, and was sworn in early August. However, his talents were not put to full use as provincial Assemblies, of course, have no jurisidiction over foreign policy. In April 3374, a general election was scheduled. The GNP member for the neighbouring provincial seat, with ten years of experience and frontbench status, was widely expected to be nominated to contest the Parliamentary seat. However, he refused to run after his wife died in an automobile accident just before the election. The local GNP branch persuaded Fox to contest the seat in his place. With a narrow margin of 0.6% on two-party preferences, Fox was elected to Parliament in another unexpected victory. Fox quickly aligned himself with the traditionalist faction of the GNP, and occasionally spoke out against the leadership of the party. This rebellious tendency and then-Prime Minister Marina LeCoultre's strong liberal leanings meant that he was regularly passed over for promotion. This was exacerbated by his lack of political visibility and his then-undeveloped rhetorical abilities (to this day he is not famed for his speeches). This situation did not change after the snap elections in 3375, in which his incredibly marginal seat became somewhat more secure. Fox was largely ignored during the period of the Woolridge Government. However, in 3378, when the Morrison Government entered power, Fox would become a undersecretary in the Defence Ministry. His policy acumen and expertise were quickly noted by superiors; nevertheless, he was not promoted: as one veteran MP put it at the time, "Geoff and the average dogshit aren't very different in terms of political visiblity". He was, however, deployed to the Foreign Ministry after two years. His stay there was brief, as a left-leaning coalition led by Unity took power in 3381. The GNP was now in opposition, under the leadership of Delia Breckinridge, former Interior Minister. Fox was a fervent supporter of Breckinridge, who shared many of his conservative views and was, like him, closely identified with the traditionalist faction. Shortly after taking over the leadership of the GNP, Breckinridge made Fox a junior party spokesperson on defence issues, and he gradually developed a greater political competence to complement his knowledge of policy. Fox has stated that his three years as one of the GNP's juniors spokespeople on defence prepared him for his future political life. Government The elections of 3383 saw the right-wing coalition of the GNP and PP prevail in a fairly close victory, overturning the short three-year period of left-wing government. On a more individual level, Geoffrey Fox saw his margin greatly increased by the growing rightist tendencies of Elbian voters; his seat, once one of the most marginal, was now classified as a safe seat. In 3384, Delia Breckinridge, the leader of the GNP, became Prime Minister. Among her first acts was to appoint Fox a junior minister in the Defence Ministry, putting him in charge of veteran's affairs. However, he found this work tedious and uninteresting, and after just under a year, he returned to the backbenches. In late 3385, after the massive right-wing victory in the elections, Breckinridge made Fox a junior minister once more, this time with responsibility over military intelligence. In this capacity, he excelled. In 3388, just ahead of the elections, Fox was promoted once again, this time to Deputy Defence Minister. He pushed for a stronger Dranish military, with limited success due to legislative disapproval, and worked towards modernising the military, introducing more advanced information technologies and streamlining chains of command to achieve a more "versatile and effective force", as he put it himself. However, he faced strong opposition towards his proposals to give military commanders more operational autonomy and also his proposals to build a small aircraft carrier to give Dranland power projection capabilities, characterised as "aggressive" by opposition parties and opposed even by his superior Minister. The Breckinridge Government survived past the elections of 3389, but the GNP lost seats. Fox was expected to be promoted to head his own Ministry as Minister for Defence. However, the political landslide which led to Delia Breckinridge's downfall prevented any possibility of a promotion, with the liberal wing of the GNP, now in charge of the party, threatening to have Breckridge removed from power if she promoted any traditionalists to positions of power, among which, of course, was the office of Minister for Defence. Fox, once an active member of the Government, was now sidelined. Defection In early April, 3393, Delia Breckinridge resigned as Prime Minister after losing a vote of confidence, a move which was expected to endorse her Government, although narrowly, but spectacularly backfired with a significant part of the GNP refusing to back her. The Popular Party's Tom Marshall, Deputy Prime Minister, became the interim Prime Minister, with Janice LeCoultre widely expected to assume the office after the elections, barring an unlikely PAC victory. Fox stated publicly just days after Breckinridge's resignation that he would not serve in a Government led by either Marshall or LeCoultre, stating that they were "fundamentally opposed to my values" and that "I cannot serve in a Government where the Prime Minister is actively attempting to undermine my position". He resigned as Deputy Defence Minister to return to the backbenches. The Sanctity of Life and Marriage Act, proposed by the CNP in early 3393, would set off a political firestorm The GNP ordered its MPs to vote against the bill in accordance with the party line, despite the pleas of traditionalist members such as Jack O'Keeffe in an open letter, with severe penalties for those that dared to rebel against the three-line whip. The result was a massive backbench revolt in April, where twenty GNP MPs including Fox voted for the bill, and Delia Breckinbridge abstained. Eventually, all twenty-one dissenting members left the GNP and joined the CNP. The election of 3393 saw Fox fight tooth and nail to retain his seat, and eventually won in the runoff against the GNP candidate by a margin even closer than that which saw him initially elected in 3374. His seat was the only constituency won by the CNP in Elbian that year, although the party did win three more party list seats in that province. Immediately after the election, Fox was appointed the CNP's spokesperson for Foreign Affairs by the party's new leader, Delia Breckinridge. Fox would gain political prominence as a result of the Chulbark crisis in 3395. In April of that year, the HMS Chulbark, a Valruzian naval vessel, was attacked by a Dranish ship without official orders. However, there were initially suspicions that the Dranish government was behind the attack, and a diplomatic crisis resulted. Fox was a highly vocal advocate for a "firm but fair response", and urged reason on the part of the Valruzian government. He was able, inadvertently, to gain great visibility by upstaging the government, due to Prime Minister Janice LeCoutlre's relative silence on the issue. Shortly afterwards, in late 3396, Fox was elected to the largely administrative position of CNP President. CNP Chairperson After the CNP performed poorly in the elections of 3397, confidence in its leader, Delia Breckinridge, was reduced. Within months, several major political figures in the party were lining up to challenge her for the leadership, among them Geoffrey Fox. A successful spill motion led to a leadership ballot in December, and after several rounds of voting involving tactical voting, Breckinridge pulled out of the contest, as she understood that if she stood, Fox would be eliminated, leaving her and Elaine Duvalle to contest the leadership; Duvalle was likely to prevail. On ther other hand, Fox was likely to defeat Duvalle, the preferred option for Breckinridge. In the last round of the election, neither Duvalle nor Fox was able to secure a majority of the Parliamentary Party's support, and a repeat a day after yielded the same result; the election thus went to the Convention. By just ten votes out of 1500, Fox was elected Parliamentary Chairperson of the CNP in an upset victory over Duvalle, who remained the Vice Chairperson. Fox immediately proceeded to resign as party President, and was replaced temporarily by James McClellan, the Vice President, and then by Mikiyasu Chouda. He also reshuffled the frontbench, replacing the occupants of seven of the sixteen frontbench positions. Delia Breckinridge was made Interior Affairs spokesperson, while Duvalle was made Trade/Industry spokesperson. Fox was replaced as Foreign Affairs spokesperson by Nathaniel Beam. Several other changes also occurred. In July 3399, Fox moved that Parliament had no confidence in the government. This motion failed. A month later, Fox himself lost the confidence of the CNP, and his position was put up for election. He managed to prevail in a final round against Elaine Duvalle, this time without the need for reference to the Convention. Duvalle lost her position as Vice Chairperson shortly after to Margaret Woodhall in another close contest. This marked the total victory of the libertarian wing of the CNP, raising speculations about a potential re-union with the GNP, which was fuelled by GNP leader Jasmine Hastings and Fox's new deputy, Woodhall. In 3401, Fox ran a bipartisan right-wing electoral campaign with the GNP, co-operating closely to criticise the newly-founded socialist parties. Fox supported a motion before the Convention to endorse the GNP's Presidential candidate, Hideo Enomoto, instead of fielding their own; he was successful largely because of CNP support. The CNP saw modest electoral gains, while the GNP suffered, although the losses were compensated for by the success of Enomoto. Shortly after, Fox reshuffled the CNP frontbench. In January 3402, Parliament gave its confidence to a right-wing coalition Cabinet led by the Popular Party (PP), and consisting also of the GNP and People's Libertarian Alliance (PLA). Under the new Gomez Government, the CNP controlled three Ministries. Fox became the Minister for Defence, an office which narrowly eluded him over a decade earlier. Minister for Defence As stated above, Geoffrey Fox became Minister for Defence in January 3402. Meanwhile, in May that year, to better concentrate on his Ministerial responsibilities, Fox resigned as CNP Chairperson. He was succeeded by acting Chairperson Margaret Woodhall. Two weeks after his resignation, Woodhall was elected Chairperson, cementing her position. Fox would continue to push for a military modernisation, but his efforts were stymied by Prime Minister Jose Gomez, whose pacifist leanings cause him to prevent any military enhancements. Fox was especially infuriated by the Weapons of Mass Destruction Demilitarisation Act, which would prevent Dranland from possessing or using WMDs. He characterised the bill as "dangerously foolish" and unworkable except in a "delusional utopian fantasy", and sparred with Green Solidarity leader Frank Alvarez. The bill narrowly passed. The passage of the bill against Fox's wishes led Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) leader George Butterworth to call for his resignation, stating that Fox no longer had Parliament's confidence and that he should not remain Defence Minister if he was going to have to implement a policy he was opposed to. Fox refused to resign, stating that he understood that legal responsibilities trumped personal opinions and that there was no genuine indication that Parliament wanted him out despite disagreeing with him in one area of defence policy, although he did state that he would resign if asked to do so by the Prime Minister. Although his duties as a Minister dominated his political life, Fox was not adverse to being active in politics in general instead of just his area of policy. He spend time speaking in support of a CNP-GNP merger, calling for right-wing unity against the "socialist threat". He was re-elected CNP President in November 3404 and announced in early 3405 that he would contest the leadership of the re-united GNP. Return to the GNP At the first joint convention of the re-united GNP in February 3405, Fox challenged incumbent Chairman Richard Branstead-Smith in the leadership election. He also faced two additional rivals, Delia Breckinridge and Ulbrach assemblyman Steve McCrory. However, he was eliminated after the second round. He subsequently ran against Ernesto Sandoval for Deputy Chairman and prevailed 59 to 41 percent. Later on, he was able to celebrate a huge political success, when Parliament passed a bill that legalized WMDs only shortly after it had been banned by a broad pacifist center-left alliance of DSP, GS, PAC and PP. Fox reacted to it through ordering the military to construct three nukes, which was criticized by DSP leader Butterworth, but supported by experts such as Dr. Jack Reynolds, Professor of International Policy at the First Private Dranian University. Fox argued that the Chulbark incident had revealed that Dranland was in need of a nuclear deterrent. Later on, Fox also ordered the construction of a light aircraft carrier, which was accepted by other political parties and the general public without much criticism. Following the sanctions Dranland had imposed on Hulstria due to its government's alleged violation of human rights, Fox also issued a general ban on exporting weapons to that country. When a GNP-PP minority administration was inaugurated in December 3414, he retained his position under Prime Minister Margaret Woodhall. When Woodhall was nearly killed in an assassination attempt in 3317, Fox stated: "In this period of mourning, sorrow and grief, there is no place for political quarreling, nor is there a left-wing or right-wing Dranland, in this dark hours the Dranish people stand shoulder to shoulder in support and prayer for their leader and deliver a clear message to the low-life who has committed this hideous crime: We will ensure that justice will prevail, and we will prove that Dranland is a place where law and order is maintained at all time - this attack was not only an assault on a widely-respected Prime Minister, but a violation of our most basic principles, particularly of our respect for human rights and democratic decision-making." Fox later expressed sympathy for toughening laws on gun ownership after the Democratic Socialist Party had put forward such a proposal. After the regime change in Hulstria, he was part of the Dranish delegation during a state visit where he raised the idea of a future defence treaty between the two nations. Electoral record !colspan=5 align=center|Elbian Assembly (East Stokesby) |- !align=center|Election !align=center|Primary Vote !align=center|% !align=center|2PP !align=center|% |- |align=left|Jul 3372||27,455||27.6||50,388||51.2 |} !colspan=5 align=center|Parliament (Stokesby, Elbian) |- !align=center|Election !align=center|Primary Vote !align=center|% !align=center|2PP !align=center|% |- |align=left|Apr 3374||58,055||25.1||101,304||50.6 |- |align=left|Dec 3375||63,104||29.8||111,948||52.9 |- |align=left|Dec 3379||70,931||33.4||109,483||53.4 |- |align=left|Dec 3383||71,378||34.1||112,397||56.1 |- |align=left|Jun 3385||67,312||33.0||110,561||55.2 |- |align=left|Jun 3389||82,574||40.9||120,483||59.4 |- |align=left|Jun 3393||52,847||25.9||100,173||50.2 |- |align=left|Jun 3397||65,803||31.6||105,516||50.7 |- |align=left|Jun 3401||73,218||35.1||115,938||54.8 |- |align=left|Jun 3405||79,007||37.7||113,293||54.5 |- |align=left|Jun 3409||83,166||39.2||116,793||56.2 |- |align=left|Nov 3412||91,328||48.2||121,348||62.1 |} Personal life Geoffrey Fox is married to Donna Fox (née Benedetti), whom he met in 3366 while on leave from military service. They married in 3368. Fox has three children: the first, Allison, was born in 3370, followed by Richard in 3374 and Annabelle in 3378. None of his children have political ambitions: Richard is a military officer like his father, while Fox's other two children have both began careers in finance. In his leisure time, Fox is known to enjoy reading and writing poetry, and has an avid interest in military history and military memorabilia, unsurprising due to his military service. He has disclosed that he keeps a number of pets, most of them dogs, although "mostly my wife looks after them when I'm busy". Category:Dranian people Category:Politicians of Dranland